Couple in Skegness fear development will be intrusive

Colin Ross with baby Alishia in his garden in front of the development. ANL-160108-110055001

Published:11:48Friday 05 August 2016

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A Skegness couple who have been forced to cope with the noise and upheaval of living in front of a new housing development had hoped their ‘nightmare’ was coming to an end until they drew the curtains one morning to see builders working level with the top of their garden fence.

Colin Ross first contacted The Standard in January when work began on a 140-home Waterloo Housing development off Lincoln Road over concerns about lorries using the site access road next to his property where he parks his car.

Mr Ross, a father of a three-month-old baby, had been upset after his CCTV caught youths stealing the wheelie bins at the side of his home and moving them onto the building site.

He said: “We reported it to the police and Waterloo Housing and the noise and disruption seemed to be calming down – and then we looked out of the window and saw builders at the level of the top of the fence.

“When someone moves in they will be able to see straight into our bedroom. We’ve asked about a fence and even heard something about a wall but the plans are unclear about what is going there and no one will tell us anything. It’s a nightmare”

Since the problem with the youths, Mr Ross has kept note of a catalogue of incidents which have left his blood boiling.

This includes his older daughter being forced to move out because she works night shifts and couldn’t sleep for the noise of lorries and tremors caused by heavy loads passing by.

He says his wife has also been unable to open windows or dry washing outside because it gets covered in dirt.

This has also brought about an end to any hope of having a barbecue.

Mr Ross, a singer at local bars, said he still parks at the side of the house, saying a suggestion from Waterloo Housing to park on the new site was not appropriate in light of him having a new baby.

“But throughout it all we kept talking with Waterloo Housing and I hoped things would get better,” he said,

“We feel we are being left in the dark. The private housing knew about this before us because there was a petition a year before we received the letter about the development, which is why we ended up with the access. But we pay full rent and tenants should be treated the same as private housing.”

A spokesman for Waterloo Housing said they were unable to discuss individual cases but said Mr Ross should submit an official complaint.